After countless trades and 20 of the first round picks changing teams we have arrived at draft day.

The trade activity in this year's community mock draft was insane. Less then an hour into the process, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Kyrie Irving to the Orlando Magic for #4 and #12. With Kyrie's future situation for Cleveland in doubt, the Cavs was ready to move him in order to rebuild with 3 picks in the top 12. The Magic got the point guard they wanted and is clearly looking to win now.

If you thought that was a blockbuster, Kevin Love moved quickly as well. He was sent to the Los Angeles Clippers for Blake Griffin and #28. The Timberwolves, still looking to win now, were never going to get a better offer than this for Love. They had to accept.

Moving on, Klay Thompson was traded, but as you can see, not to the Timberwolves for Love. Instead, Thompson, along with Harrison Barnes and Marreese Speights were sent to the Charlotte Hornets for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Gerald Henderson, and #9. The Warriors were clearly not ready to sign the soon to be restricted free agent Thompson, and the allure of moving not only into the first round, but the top 10 of the draft was too much to resist.

If you're looking for minor moves then you have come to the wrong place. A move involving 5 players between the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies was centered around a swap of DeAndre Jordan and Marc Gasol. The addition of JJ Redick was too much for the Grizzlies to pass up on despite the fantastic play of Gasol the past few seasons.

In a couple of minor moves, the Celtics acquired Nik Pekovic and Shabazz Muhammad, but more importantly got rid of Jeff Green's contract along with last year's first round pick Kelly Olynyk and #17. The Oklahoma City Thunder were not pleased with the development of Jeremy Lamb, and instead looked to another highly touted shooting guard Ben McLemore. Lamb and #21 were sent to the Kings for McLemore. The Clippers swapped scorers with the Timberwolves in sending Jamal Crawford and #22 to the Timberwolves for Kevin Martin and #28.

Another one of the highly rumored trade pieces Aaron Afflalo moved. Afflalo, Jameer Nelson, and Kyle O' Quinn were sent to the Chicago Bulls for Carlos Boozer and #16. The Bulls now have a lineup looking to challenge for the Eastern Conference title while the Magic pick up another draft pick and the cap relief Boozer will bring in 2015.

In a three way roster blow up, the Boston Celtics received David West, the Brooklyn Nets received Roy Hibbert, Chris Copeland and #18, and the Indiana Pacers received Brook Lopez Brandon Bass, and Keith Bogans.

The Phoenix Suns decided to blow up their bench and that #6 pick they received earlier in exchange for a superstar. The Suns sent Gerald Green, Markieff Morris, Ish Smith, Dionte Christmas, Alex Len, and #6 to the Portland Trailblazers for LaMarcus Aldridge and Will Barton. With Aldridge becoming an FA in 2015, the amount of bench talent and two top 6 picks was too much to pass up for the Trailblazers.

Another rumored name on the move was traded and this time it was Rajon Rondo. Rondo was dealt to the Detroit Pistons for Brandon Jennings and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The Celtics also included #28.

In another three way deal, Jrue Holiday Austin Rivers, Luke Babbitt, and the rights to Pierre Jackson were on the way to LA for the Lakers. The Miami Heat would receive the shot blocking of Jeff Withey and dime dishing of Kendall Marshall, while the New Orleans Pelicans got the expiring contract of Steve Nash, Marshon Brooks, the rights to James Ennis, and the #7 pick from LA.

In what might have been the most intriguing trade of the process, the Trailblazers continued to wipe out their 54 win team by sending Damian Lillard, Dorell Wright, Joel Freeland, and Victor Claver to the Denver Nuggers for Ty Lawson, Timofey Mozgov, and #11. The Blazers have now dealt their 2 All-Stars from last season while acquiring lottery picks.

In a trade to perhaps revitalize his career, Deron Williams was on the way to Houston. The Nets traded Williams, Marquis Teague, and #18 for Jeremy Lin, Omer Asik, Pat Beverley, and #25.

As if the Trailblazers hadn't moved enough off their roster, they continued. This time it was Wesley Matthews and Thomas Robinson on their way to the Golden State Warriors for Gerald Henderson, Nemanja Nedovic, and #9. Obviously, the allure of this draft was too much for Portland to not take part in.

KCP moved again, this time to Utah with #14 in exchange for Alec Burks and #23.

The Spurs apparently were not satisfied with the postseason form of Marco Belinelli, as along with pick #30, he moved to the Charlotte Hornets for Brendan Haywood and #24.

Jamal Crawford hopefully didn't buy a house yet in Minnesota, as he was moved to Atlanta for Lou Williams and #15.

The Trailblazers, now sitting with three picks in the top 11 of the draft, apparently were not satisfied with the rebuild, as they moved Ty Lawson, CJ McCollum, and #11 to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George and CJ Watson. The Pacers and Trailblazers have now both in a quite nuclear fashion, blown up their contending teams for a new look.

Eric Gordon and his 65 year old knees were sent to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for the cap filler of Jason Terry, Derrick Williams and Travis Outlaw. The teams also swapped picks, as the Pelicans received pick #21 from the Kings while the Kings got back #26.

While Kevin Love and Chris Paul were starting to feel each other out on the court, the Clippers had other ideas. They moved Love and Willie Green to the Trailblazers for Markieff Morris, Timofey Mozgov, Gerald Henderson, and #6. So to recap the recap, the Trailblazers dealt their stars for lottery picks, and then dealt those lottery picks for other stars. I tell ya what, there's nothing quite like the community mock draft!

Two more minor moves happened, as the Pacers improved their bench by acquiring Danny Green, Tiago Splitter, and #24 from the Spurs. In exchange, the Spurs received Luis Scola, Solomon Hill, Donald Sloan, Ian Mahinmi, and #11.

The Spurs would not be done yet, as they got themselves into a three team trade. In that three team trade, the Spurs would receive Gerald Green and #17, the Timberwolves would acquire Ian Mahinmi and #9, while the Trailblazers would receive JJ Barea, #11, and #15.

In the second instance of a superstar being acquired and being dealt again, the Suns sent LaMarcus Aldridge and Vitor Faverani to the Kings for Rudy Gay, Jeremy Lamb, #8, and #26.

The Pelicans elected to pick up an extra first rounder, sending Alexis Ajinca, #7, and #21 to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for #8, #26, and #27.

Wrapping it up, Monta Ellis is on his way to Portland, as the Trailblazers traded Alex Len and #15 to Dallas for the shooting guard. This puts the Mavericks into the first round.

A reminder of some of the rules and the additional ones that will take place today.

- The trade deadline is 6PM PST

Due to the likelihood of us having to cover for some selections and the ease to go through the comments to find the selections, we are going to be quite busy and will not have time to go through any more trades. I think it's fair to say that everyone has had enough time to get their deals in anyway. Please keep your trade discussions to the original post as this one will be saved for the draft.

- You will have 5 minutes to make your selection

To make this selection, you will put your selection in the HEADLINE of an original comment.

-The timer for the first pick starts exactly at 7PM

No commissioner speech or anything. It's go time. The timer for the next pick starts directly after the pick has been posted. With that in mind, it would be wise to keep yourself consistently updated with the new comments and use the handy Z key function.

- If you will not be here for your selection you can email me (
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
) a big board of who you rank at your draft position. Remember, rank the big board based on your position. If you are picking 26th, it does not matter if you rank Wiggins over Parker.

- If the selection is not made in 5 minutes and there is no big board the selection will be made by us. With all the trades that have happened, it's going to take us a minute or two to assess a roster. Please be patient with us. We will be sure to notify you all when a team has run out of time via the comments and will make the selection when it is warranted.

- Keep up with the Draft in the Comments

- I plan on updating the post pick by pick, but please do not solely rely on this. This once again ties back to keeping up with the comments.

- All of the teams that have a big board sent will be labeled as such in the post to avoid confusion

That does it for all the rules and such. I want to thank Geoff and Sreekar for helping me out with this process and all of you for making this as active as possible. Here is the draft order.

14. 18. 27. The Suns are in an enviable position heading into what is widely considered a deep draft with three first round picks. Fans are brimming with confidence in their new GM's ability to pluck talent from the crop of draftees, but what are the odds of those players being NBA ready in their first seasons?

The Suns will likely be in for some roster attrition in the coming days. Eric Bledsoe and P.J. Tucker are restricted free agents. Channing Frye may have opted out of his contract by the time this story shows up on your box of everything. Ish Smith doesn't have a stranglehold on the backup point guard duties and the end of the bench features some eminently replaceable players.

The Suns roster is likely to go through a significant permutation. It needs to. Last season was part of a renascence, but one that saw the team fall short of the playoffs. The team needs to get better and internal improvement isn't going to be enough.

Part of the evolution of the team will be the addition of rookie players through the upcoming draft. The exact degree of that addition is still lent to caprice, with a tempest of rumors swirling and Ryan McDonough's own admission that the team doesn't want to add all three of their current picks to next season's roster.

Another harbinger of Thursday's selection process is McDonough's stance that he will select the players he feels have the ultimately highest ceilings. He's looking to win the draft years down the line, irrespective of immediate gratification. He can't perform McMiracles by being shortsighted.

Obviously that was his strategy last season, as he drafted players that showed glimpses of what they may eventually evolve into... but made very little immediate impact.

Will that translate into another draft with similar returns? Is it very likely that there is even a choice?

I will curtail the rest of the analysis and get down to brass tacks (an idiom with its own shrouded beginnings). The rest of this story relies heavily on charts, so for those of you with an aversion to factual research used to back up observed trends... at least I tricked you into reading this far.

The following chart (well, it's a little ways down) is a list of all the rookies that played for Western Conference playoff teams in the past six seasons. Why six? At first I was going to go with five, but then it occurred to me that I didn't want the lockout season to skew the data. It turned out that it didn't, but I still stayed with six because it gave me another season of how the Suns' adversaries were drafting.

Why playoff teams? Because I'm assuming the goal is for the Suns to challenge for a playoff spot next season... which would make this examination very relevant to the rookies on the team.

Out of the six seasons the Suns were included only once... and they picked Earl Clark (14) and Taylor Griffin (48). Ouch. I'm not sure which stings worse, that the Suns have made the playoffs only once in the past six seasons or the putrescence of those picks.

Glad to brighten up your day.

So, how much production did playoff teams get out of their first round draft picks?

I looked at first round picks that played at least 1,000 minutes in their rookie season. That's a little over 12 minutes a game extrapolated across an 82 game season. I didn't factor in the quality of those minutes. A player could have had a net negative on the team, but if they still played him it counts.

2008/09 - This season George Hill (26) and Nicolas Batum (25) met the requirement. The Blazers actually got contributions from three rookies, but two of those (Rudy Fernandez and Greg Oden) were drafted in previous seasons and don't fit the criteria.

That's two.

2009/10 - Ty Lawson (18) and James Harden (3) qualified. Wesley Matthews was undrafted, and incredibly beat out the rest of this class. We also see that Serge Ibaka was drafted previously and DeJuan Blair (37) went in the second round (we'll touch on some of these players later).

That's four.

2010/11 - This one is a vacuous void of first round production. Gary Neal led the class despite going undrafted. That's two years in a row that a guy off the street led all rookies in minutes played on playoff teams.

Still four.

2011/12 - Here are a couple standouts that give the Suns a lambent hope. Kawhi Leonard (15) and Kenneth Faried (22) both made an instant impact after being drafted in a spot similar to where the Suns currently stand. Unfortunately, the Suns whiffed in that draft.

That's six.

2012/13 - Harrison Barnes (7) and Festus Ezeli (30) helped propel a surprisingly potent Warriors team to an exciting playoff run. Draymond Green (35) also joined that precocious duo, but was selected in the second round. The Warriors had a pretty decent draft.

That's eight.

2013/14 - Steven Adams (12). That's it. Adams was also notably effective for periods in the playoffs and seems to have some good basketball in front of him. Nick Calathes would have joined him, but was a holdover from a previous draft.

Nine.

So... Out of 48 team seasons nine first round picks made an impact according to the (admittedly simplistic and arbitrary) minute mark I chose.

But, you surmise, those playoff teams probably didn't have multiple picks, or any at all for that matter. They did have 39 combined, though.

Now it's 9 out of 39. That's less than one in four.

There were also two undrafted players, four holdovers and two second round picks. Eight more. Put that at 17 total and those playoff teams only had about a 35% chance of finding a contributing player by exhausting all resources.

Check out the data I complied in the chart below. Labor of love and whatnot...

Now let's perambulate through another set of data I complied, this one a look at the recent history of the 14th, 18th and 27th picks. Only seven out of these 18 met the 1,000 minute mark... completely irrespective of the team's record that season.

That's not good.

Interestingly, Eric Bledsoe led the charge, but his numbers were pretty underwhelming. Despite that, none of the other 17 players bested his 3.6 assists per game. Only Jordan Crawford scored in double digits (11.7) and nobody managed even six rebounds a game.

The composite below shows that the mean player in this range over the last six seasons is basically a scrub. 14.4 minutes, 5.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and one assist per game.

That's not good, either.

But how does that compare to last season's draft darlings?

Well... yeah.

Ryan McDonough wasn't drafting for NBA ready players last season and he isn't going to be this season. There's always a chance of pulling a Kawhi Leonard (who still only averaged eight points and five rebounds a game in his rookie season), but there's also a real chance that it will take a couple years (like with Markieff Morris) to get anything legitimately positive out of these guys.

So go in to the draft full of hope, but don't expect an instant rotation player to pop on a Suns cap on Thursday. That's why Ryan McDonough doesn't want a roster full of rookies and tyros.

For the second year in a row, the SB Nation Blogger Mock Draft was a whirlwind. The editor from each team’s blog took over the role of General Manager with their staff taking on roles of scouts and Asst. GMs.